Month: August 2016

South African biotechnology and IP Company Green Cell Technologies® (GCT®), has been internationally acknowledged for its revolutionary technology, receiving the Frost & Sullivan Visionary Innovation Leadership Award – Food Processing, for its work in food security. The Award is recognition of the exceptional advances GCT® has made with its Disruptor™ technology in enhancing food production for the modern world.

Accoridng to the research report issued by Frost & Sullivan, ‘Green Cell Technologies has created a unique solution to overcome the challenges of food security and the need to reduce the excessive amount of waste generated during the food processing cycle. The game-changing Disruptor™, using Dynamic Cellular Disruption®, provides manufacturers with a compact and cost-saving technology to process their food more expediently, reduce waste, and improve nutritional quality. Frost & Sullivan firmly believes that the company is a visionary leader, addressing one of the most pertinent issues facing modern society.’

Recognition has been a long time coming…

Ten years ago, founders Roy Henderson and Jan Vlok, sat around the table pondering the fact they were replete with Christmas lunch, how many others were not, and worse, that the food the majority of people consume, had little nutritional value beyond the memory of that particular meal. There and then they set about inventing a way to make more food and beverage, (and a whole manner of other life sustaining products), more accessible to more people at a price they could afford, and which would also be highly nutritious, while at the same time benefiting the planet by reducing overall waste. Green Cell Technologies® was born.

It took a decade, many sleepless nights and the requisite financial constraints that come with changing the world, but in the Disruptor™ technology there is now a solution to many of our planetary daily needs. Along the way, the pair has even created a brand new hybrid alloy that sits highest on the Rockwell Scale (the scale that measures hardness).

How does it work and why is it getting the attention of the world’s food & beverage manufacturers both big and small? Essentially, food processing has not changed since the industrial revolution. What has changed though is the number of people we need to feed on a daily basis, and the shrinking ability with which to do it. Current processing methods generate huge amounts of waste – not only in the material itself, but also in not accessing 100% of the available nutrients.

GCT’s Disruptor™ and Dynamic Cellular Disruption®(DCD®) process change all that. Without using harmful heat or chemicals, the patented process and machinery are able to use wholefoods and plants (skin, pips, seeds, stalks and all) to generate nutrient rich emulsions, which can be used for a variety of food types – think soups, convenience foods, juices, baby foods, sauces and beyond. These same emulsions can also be dried into powders for use in shakes, nutriceuticals and even cosmetics – this could put a totally different spin on the phrase; ‘feeding your face!’ The added nutrition is derived from the fact that the Disruptors™ are able to remove the plant cell membrane, thus releasing 99.99998% of the ‘actives’ inside and all the fibre is taken up into the flowable liquid.

“We have conducted countless trials and demonstrations over the past few months, for both local and international food manufacturers. Typically we are able to show them a 60% – 80% increase in the amount of product they can produce, and in many instances even higher, because there is very little to no wastage using DCD” confirmed Roy Henderson, CEO of GCT®. “In addition to this though, the taste profile of the material is much enhanced by the opening of all the plant cells, that there are further increases (and savings) in yield because the emulsions require significant dilution.”

Roy is also convinced that the days of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ are here now, as the company has in effect perfected the ‘protein pill’ Bowie sang about in the 1969 song.

The Disruptor™ (baby two-barrel version) is a 3.2 ton piece of equipment wrapped up in a food grade shiny stainless steel box. It’s a commercial proposition with massive export potential – with machines available in 2,4, 6 and 8-barrel configurations – so it’s not something you can take home and run your morning juice through – yet. “We are working on it,” grinned Jan, “but we need to assist the bulk processors in changing their way of making consumer retail foods and beverages first.” With consumers already vocal in their desire and need for healthier foods and drinks, industry is adapting its manufacturing standards to take this into account and Green Cell Technologies® is consulting and licensing its technology to these forward thinking organisations.

As one of only two ‘Visionary Innovation Leadership’ awardees in Africa, Green Cell Technologies® was given the recognition by Frost & Sullivan for its clear ability to innovate today in the light of perceived changes and opportunities that will arise from Mega Trends in the future. A visionary innovation leadership position enables a market participant to deliver highly competitive products and solutions that transform the way individuals and businesses perform their daily activities. Such products and solutions set new, long-lasting trends in how technologies are deployed and consumed by businesses and end users. Most important, they deliver unique and differentiated benefits that can greatly improve business performance as well as individuals’ work and personal lives.

On being acknowledged for their work, Henderson and Vlok were self-effacing, with Roy saying: “We are truly thankful that Green Cell Technologies has been recognised for the positive impact it will play on securing the future of food for everyone. Food wastage is unnecessary, especially when the real goodness is in the parts that currently cannot be processed and consequently get thrown away.”